Police Probe Madeleine 'Grave' TheoryA self-styled investigator has sent police radar scans he says show a burial site in the Portuguese resort where she disappeared.10:51pm UK, Thursday 05 July 2012Madeleine McCann

Madeleine McCann disappeared five years ago

By Martin Brunt, crime correspondent

British detectives are examining an extraordinary claim that Madeleine McCann's body is buried near the holiday apartment from where she vanished.

A self-styled investigator has sent police ground radar scans he claims show a burial site.

Stephen Birch says he took the scans last week in Praia da Luz, the Portuguese holiday resort where Madeleine disappeared five years ago.

He passed them to Scotland Yard detectives who are carrying out an investigative review of the case.

They have asked him for more information to help them interpret the scan results and the "raw data" the machine collected.

He has also sent the material to Portuguese police who abandoned their search for Madeleine 15 months after she disappeared.

____________________

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.~John F. Kennedy

A self-styled investigator has sent police radar scans he says show a burial site in the Portuguese resort where she disappeared.10:51pm UK, Thursday 05 July 2012Madeleine McCann

British detectives are examining an extraordinary claim that Madeleine McCann's body is buried near the holiday apartment from where she vanished.

A self-styled investigator has sent police ground radar scans he claims show a burial site.

Stephen Birch says he took the scans last week in Praia da Luz, the Portuguese holiday resort where Madeleine disappeared five years ago.

He passed them to Scotland Yard detectives who are carrying out an investigative review of the case.

They have asked him for more information to help them interpret the scan results and the "raw data" the machine collected.

He has also sent the material to Portuguese police who abandoned their search for Madeleine 15 months after she disappeared.Kate And Gerry McCann Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann believe she is still alive

Mr Birch, a commercial property developer in South Africa, admits he is "obsessed" with the Madeleine mystery.

He claims to have spent £40,000 on buying the ground-penetrating scanner and being trained in its use.

He said: "All I want to do is solve the mystery and bring closure to Madeleine's family. I am convinced she lies where I have scanned.

"I've had the scans analysed and they show digging, a void and what could be human bones."

Scotland Yard said it would always consider any new potential evidence and pass it on to the Portuguese authorities.

Earlier this year the detective in charge of the review said he believed there was a chance Madeleine was still alive.

She was nearly four when she disappeared without trace from the apartment in May 2007.

Despite dozens of potential sightings around the world no credible evidence has emerged to indicate whether she is alive or dead.

Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann believe she is still alive and would not comment on Mr Birch's claims.

____________________

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.~John F. Kennedy

my hopes are that this piece of news is looked at and dismissed as rubbish if that is what it is. I really hope this has not now descended into a farce of unbelievable theories from Horrocks first promoting the alive and well living with a new family scenario and now this guy promoting the other side of the coin. There is an interview with GA re this but the translation is quite poor

____________________

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.~John F. Kennedy

@russiandoll wrote: my hopes are that this piece of news is looked at and dismissed as rubbish if that is what it is. I really hope this has not now descended into a farce of unbelievable theories from Horrocks first promoting the alive and well living with a new family scenario and now this guy promoting the other side of the coin. There is an interview with GA re this but the translation is quite poor

I saw the translation and agree its very poor. Very hard to make out what is actually said. It seems he dismisses the claims of this investigator...and said something it must have been after the PJ searched the property.

In an exclusive interview with the Algarve Resident today (July 5), Robert Murat says he is “very angry” that news is circulating that a South-African researcher claims Madeleine McCann’s body is buried in the backyard of the house where his mother lives in Praia da Luz.

According to Correio da Manhã (CM) daily newspaper, Stephen Birch, who says he is “passionate” about the mystery surrounding Madeleine’s disappearance, entered the property four times during the night, around two weeks ago, to search its backyard using georadar equipment.

The man claims the machine detected movement and alteration in the subsoil and collected images that he says he has passed on to the UK’s Scotland Yard and the Portuguese Polícia Judiciária.

Birch told the Correio da Manhã that images collected detected that “an object” had been buried in the backyard “60 centimetres underground”. The data was allegedly analysed by a specialist who confirmed the probable presence of something in that location.

The South-African researcher told the newspaper that he believed that Madeleine was buried there.

However, Robert Murat said: “Every single part of the house, inside and out, was checked in 2007 by more than 20 police officers, who found absolutely nothing. They used Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) equipment, which was brought by a Civil Protection team, to search the grounds of the property and the area surrounding Casa Liliana.”

Former PJ inspector Gonçalo Amaral, who was involved in the Madeleine investigation in the beginning, told CM that the PJ’s searches of the house had been “thorough”.

Murat, who hasn’t lived at the house “for years”, said his mother Jenny, who is 76 years old, is feeling very uncomfortable in her own home. “Her privacy is being invaded again,” he said. “She is distraught and I am very angry. My lawyers are dealing with this.”

Referring to the photographs published by Correio da Manhã, which show Birch in Jenny Murat’s garden, Robert said he didn’t think there was any way the man could have entered the property as his mother has two large Serra da Estrela dogs that are kept outside as guard dogs.

Murat’s lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, told the Algarve Resident: “We are unsure as to the veracity of those photographs.”

When asked if his client would be suing Stephen Birch for unlawful entry to his mother’s property or for his claims, the lawyer said: “We are currently analysing the news report.”

Robert Murat concluded: “I don’t expect anybody to be on my side, I just want the truth,”

Birch told CM that while in Praia da Luz, he monitored the property “24 hours a day”, with the help of two “collaborators”, and when the house was vacated he would enter and search the backyard with the georadar equipment.

The man says he does not want to “make accusations” as his sole objective is to find the location where the body was buried as it will be “easier to solve the case”.

Despite his alleged findings at the property, Birch is quoted in CM as saying that he doesn’t believe Murat or his relatives are involved in the disappearance of Madeleine. “Anyone could have had access to the property,” he told the newspaper.

In the CM report, Gerry and Kate McCann’s lawyer in Portugal, Rogério Alves, is said to be following the latest developments closely and admitted he may request the reopening of the case.

The police authorities have allegedly received the data collected by Stephen Birch.

The background:

Madeleine McCann disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 2007, a few days before turning four.

Robert Murat became the first arguido, or official suspect, in the investigation of the Madeleine McCann case after a British journalist reported to the police that his behaviour during the initial stages of the search was suspicious. Murat, fluent in English and Portuguese, had offered his help as translator to the Portuguese authorities.

In 2008, Murat saw his status of arguido dropped by the Portuguese authorities.

Murat has always claimed to have had no involvement whatsoever in the British toddler’s disappearance and that his life has been turned upside down by the case.

In November 2008, the former arguido was awarded undisclosed libel damages from British Sky Broadcasting Ltd following a video and article posted on the Sky News website. Prior to this, Robert Murat had received 600,000 pounds sterling following allegations in more than 100 articles in various publications in the UK.

Once again, the Algarve resident sees his name splashed across the national and international press and all of his hopes of some form of normalcy in his life have now been dashed again.

_____________

____________________

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.~John F. Kennedy

I believe what this SA businessman is effectively saying is that the body was buried there recently. I wonder why he didn't start digging for the body while he was there or would he have been committing a separate offense to add to his trespassing?

@ShuBob wrote:No worries. The more people who see the article the better.

I believe what this SA businessman is effectively saying is that the body was buried there recently. I wonder why he didn't start digging for the body while he was there or would he have been committing a separate offense to add to his trespassing?

That would be tampering with evidence, I'm sure this Birch bloke isn't that mad.

It may not even be the property he claims it is. Murat says he can't tell from the photographs and doesn't see how anyone could be rooting around without alerting the dogs.

Birch may have actually been searching somewhere else altogether, and rest of the 'story' is just spin. That's my theory.

@ShuBob wrote:No worries. The more people who see the article the better.

I believe what this SA businessman is effectively saying is that the body was buried there recently. I wonder why he didn't start digging for the body while he was there or would he have been committing a separate offense to add to his trespassing?

I personally think that there is nothing odd in this latest piece of news.

I reckon it is what it is. This guy Birch is so keen to try and find out what happened to Madeleine that he has taken it into his own hands and gone ahead with a search, something I'm sure we would all love to do if we had the means and resources.

I don't think he is after any reward, that's not his motivation, he wants the truth and I honestly hope that SY and the PJ take it all seriously.

It wouldn't surprise me if someone thought that the ideal place to bury something would be in a place that had already been thoroughly searched previously.

Birch should not be ridiculed, yes he committed trespass but in the bigger picture that is a trivial matter.

I am intrigued to find out why he is so sure that RM has no connection to this, what does he know I wonder?

I might be wrong but I feel this is something significant, so very sad though if it is that poor little girl.

Give the case to Tony, Phil and Mick of Time Team they will sort it out and as usual they will have only three days to do it.

ShuBob: So you think the PJ had the body all along. Sounds like a straw that would be grasped by a McCann Supporter.

I think it is more smoke and mirrors and a good reason to watch the other hand. Looks like something could be afoot but Madeleines corpse in Murats garden is not it. They are not that stupid!!!

How on earth did you read that into my post?

On rereading your post again, I apologise, you must have meant Private detectives. Which, however far fetched, would be the easiest senario to favour. For my mind I just can't see it being the case. For once I'm with Gerry 'show me the body'.